The Chronicles of S'darrah the Desert Thief
by Tabris93
Summary: This is the story of the Khajiit S'darrah and her journey through the Thieves Guild. I have written this chapter by chapter as I've played the game, including whatever planned or unplanned events that happened while playing.
1. Arriving in Imperial City

This is the adventures of the Khajiit S'darrah. She wanted to find and join the Thieves Guild, and this is her story. I have roleplayed this character, always riding or running between destinations, eating and sleeping etc. I have also incorporated the events that happend and mistakes she did. And so the game steered the events of these Chronicles as much as I did. English is not my first language, but I have tried to proof-read this to the best of my abilities. There is little chance that I won't continue this story, as I have already written 22 chapters of it. Reviews and feedback is highly appreciated.

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**Part One - Arriving in the Imperial City**

S'darrah is a Khajiit. She boarded a boat that set sail towards the great Imperial City, where she had heard rumours of a Thieves Guild. She was eager to join such a guild. Not to mention she felt inclined to relax in a bar with some fresh meat and beer. She was a Desert Thief. She had little interest in exploration or battles for the sake of exploration or battles. She was a hunter, a hunter for venison and animal pelts, and also a hunter for the tempting armour and weaponry found on highway bandits. Pelts and new weapon meant gold. And gold meant fine wine and a warm bed in an Inn. Perhaps, just perhaps, she could one day save enough to buy herself a home of her own. Even one of the shacks at the Waterfront was only a distant dream that S'darrah only dared to dream after having had a beer or two more than she should have.

So the first thing she did after having put her feet on dry land again (after being warned by some mean-looking pirates to shy away from their ship) was to ask around for the Thieves Guild. A coin given here and there to the beggars revealed where they could be found. She had little gold with her, but she hoped that would change soon. According to the rumours, she was supposed to go to the Garden of Dareloth in the Waterfront district during nighttime. She did, and attended a midnight meeting with a Redguard called Armand from the Thieves Guild. It turned out that there were two more people applying to join the guild, so Armand set up a test for them - the first one to bring back a specific diary he wanted stolen would be able to join.

S'darrah hurried over to the beggars to find out where the person who owned that diary lived. Even though she was quick to find the house, the woman who wanted to join - Methredel - was already there and snatched the diary straight infront of her! S'darrah refused to give up and managed to find out where Methredel lived and stole the diary from her own house. She quickly returned to Armand, and she was in!

Eager to start her career as a Thief, she went straight for one of the houses in Imperial City. She sneaked in and couldn't resist stealing a few bottles of cheap wine - so she could celebrate afterwards, she thought, giggling to herself. There wasn't too much to find downstairs so she dared sneaking up to the bedroom, knowing that whoever lived here was laying there asleep. Inside the bedroom, she found two locked chests. It was the hardest locks she had tried, and as she was still new at this, she spent quite a while opening them. But she didn't give up, as she knew that most people kept the valuable goods in the bedroom upstairs. And she was rewarded with some great weapons and armour - actually more than she was able to carry. (Although she also snuck with her some more expensive wine she found upstairs).

It was while she was happily wandering the streets at the Waterfront it happened - she got too curious of the pirate ship and got too close - three or four men and women ran after to attack her! She first tried to run and find some guards to do the fighting for her, but she didn't find any. So she stopped to fight. To her horror she found out - too late - that one of her attackers was a member of the Thieves Guild! Of course, it was against the rules to kill another guild member! She now had to pay a fine of 500 gold pieces to get back - and she didn't have that much! Neither was all her stolen loot any good, as there was now no one to buy it. Feeling thouroughly miserable, she drank the expensive wine she had stolen while pondering what to do next.

Sad and disappointed, S'darrah roamed the streets of the city, searching in every nook, cranny and barrel for anything she could sell - herbs, potatoes, shoes - anything! Feeling at an all-time low, she slept on the beggar's bed in a corner by night and wandered the streets for anything she could sell during the day. Finally she had managed to scrap enough gold to pay her fine! She so did and was accepted back in the guild. She was now pennyless, though, and could hardly afford even a night at the Inn. So she decided to head for Bruma - her fence lived there, and there she could sell all the stolen goods she was still carrying.

S'darrah was good at stealing horses. Her favourite way of transportation was riding a stolen horse between her destinations. Unfortunately she acted a bit too quick this time, and someone saw her. They didn't follow her, but probably reported her as she got a bounty. The bounty wasn't larger than that she could get by fine if she kept her head down in cities and didn't attrack the attention of the guards. So she headed for Bruma on her beautiful, white horse. She knew from earlier experience that stolen horses were fickle friends - if you dismounted them, they would head straight back where they came from, and had no sense of loyalty towards the thief. So she didn't dismount for anything, not even wolves that tried to attack her on the way. She knew her horse could outrun them, so she just kept going.

After a long ride all night, she finally reached Jerall Mountains and the city of Bruma. Two wolves had followed her and while she dismounted outside the city gates, the guards and rangers took care of the wolves. All S'darrah had to do was to take their pelts. She found her fence easily and sold everything she had that she could sell. She only kept a dagger, the clothes she was wearing and some bread and potatoes for herself. With gold tinkling merrily in her purse, she headed for Olav's Tap and Tack. There she bought a room, and also treated herself with some food. Unfortunately, Olav didn't have any meat, so her supper consisted of bread, cheese and ale before she could finally get some sleep. Next morning, she felt in a good mood, and decided to stay in Bruma for a little while. After all, her only fence lived here, and it would be a waste of time to travel between Bruma and Imperial City everytime she wanted to sell her stuff. They might not be as rich up here in this Nord town, but they should have some weapon and jewlery, she figured. Nodding good morning to Olav, she headed outside to get familiar with the town.


	2. There and back again

**Part Two - There and back again**

These past few days had been quite eventful, S'darrah thought. She had wasted no time in Bruma, but started her thieving the very next night, after everyone had gone to bed. She snuck into one of the more finer looking houses, opening every trunk, closet and chest she could find. To her disappointment, there was very little of value to be found. Some fine clothes - she had a soft spot for fine clothes, S'darrah - and food items here and there was just about all.

So she headed upstairs, sneaking silently around the bed with the sleeping woman. But even in the woman's bedroom there wasn't much of interest. She didn't get it - the house was fine, the woman's clothing was fine, and even the bedsheets were shiny and new - yet there were no gold, no jewlery - nothing. Darn this petty Nord village!

It was only when she headed towards the staircase she saw the extra bedroom. No one was sleeping there, but there were a few chests there. Opening them revealed several fine weapons - maces, axes and swords. Even some armour. Can't find a Nord without some heavy weaponry, S'darrah thought to herself, putting it all in her bag before sneaking her way out of the house again.

Her find had made her eager for more, although she had little interest in searching through more of these Nord houses. As she looked around, she saw that the local weapon shop was just across the street. Excellent! No one saw her as she lockpicked her way through the door - only one lockpick left, now! - and entered the empty shop. This was more like it! All kind of expensive weapons were laying around the room, not even locked down! She greedily grabbed it all, only to notice that she wouldn't be able to carry it all. She, sadly, threw all the clothes out of the bag. Hm, the wine bottles were a bit heavy. She quickly opened one and drank it, leaving the empty bottle.

That was when she noticed another shelf filled with more weapons. She could barely carry what she had, even without the clothes and wine, so she decided to hurry back to Ongar, her fence, and sell it off before she returned. She got out of the shop without anyone noticing, for some reason the guards weren't patrolling this part of the town that often, and hurried over to Olav's Tap and Tack. To her luck, Ongar liked his drinks and could spend hours in the nights drinking and chatting with Olav, when he wasn't asleep in his own house. She quickly sold him all her loot - and got almost 200 gold pieces for it all! That would be enough to let her Doyen remove her bounty and she would still have enough gold left for a good meal and and a bed back in the Imperial City.

She returned to the weapon shop, but she was too eager. The clock was almost four in the morning, and the shop owners cleary liked to wake up early. She heard someone walking upstairs and froze. Then that someone came down the stairs.

"In the name of Azura! Get out of here before I call the guards!"

S'darrah turned on her heel and ran out. Luckily, the owner didn't follow her and she returned to Olav's and waited until nightfall. When she was sure the owners was asleep, she headed back into the shop and stole the rest of their weapons. She was getting tired now, and returned to Olav's again. Ongar was still there, although he was also complaining about getting tired. Still, he bought everything she had. S'darrah bought a beer and some food - still no meat to be found at Olav's. A Nord without meat! She sat down at the wooden table, drinking her beer and eating her simple supper before retreating to her room.

Morning came and S'darrah assessed her situation. She might be wrong, but she didn't think the other Nord houses had much interesting things for her to steal, and she had already robbed the only weapon shop in town. She didn't dare trying to sneak her way into the castle or any of the guild halls, as she suspected there would be people awake their at night as well. Besides, she only had one lockpick left, and she had fenced items for almost 500 gold now. She decided to return to Imperial City.

Again she waited until nightfall, it was much easier to steal a horse when the stableboy was asleep. She cursed silently when she approached the stables - only paint horses! They were so slow, she wasn't even sure if they were able to outride the many wolves found in the mountains. Still, she had no choice. Quickly she snuck up behind one of them, and got up in the saddle without anyone noticing, gallopping out of there. As she suspected, there were several wolves in the mountain, but she just kept on riding. One of them even followed her all the way down the mountain before it stopped it's chase.

There! She could see Imperial City! The ride wasn't that long, really. It only took about half a night. The road winded itself around half the city island, but she was too impatient for that so she steered the horse down to the water surrounding the island, dismounted and swam across. She headed straight for the Bloating Float, the ship that served as both a Tavern and an Inn. It was cheap, and no one asked too many questions in there.

After a good meal, having finally been able to secure some ham and venison from someone's basement in Bruma, along with some ale, she bought a room and went straight for bed, so tired that she slept for 24 hours straight. She could hardly believe her own senses when she woke up the next morning and could feel the ship moving - they were out at sea!

Something wasn't right. She got out of her room, only to stand face to face with a thief. A murderous thief. She tried to talk her way out of the situation, but he barred his sword and attacked her. Luckily, her blade training had been good enough for her to handle him rather easily. When he was slayen, she started to see the good things about this new situation - a lot of loot! She stole everything the thief had, including the clothes on his body.

It seemed like a gang of thieves had boarded the Bloated Float and set her ashore. Well, S'darrah wouldn't have any of that, and it seemed that fighting her way through was the only way. She went upstairs to the tavern deck, where she found a Dark Elf woman. She was harder to fight, especially since S'darrah had forgotten to heal herself after the previous battle, but the thief woman was soon defeated, and stripped for all her belongings.

One of the taver employees followed her upstairs now that it was safe. S'darrah continued up to the outside deck and the rudder, only to be faced with a large Nord. This fight was shorter as S'darrah changed her fighting style - she blocked less and fought more aggressivly. Looting the dead Nord, she worried that she might not be able to carry it all, but she was doing fine so far.

Returning to the tavern, she understood from the employee that the owner was locked into his cabin along with the gang leader. So she headed in as she had gotten the key from the Nord, and met Selene, the leader. S'darrah was good at talking when she set her mind to it, and had gotten quite a bit of information from the other thieves by talking to them before they attacked her. So Selene seemed quite shocked by all the information she had - not to mention the fact that S'darrah had single-handedly killed all the other three! So to S'darrah's surprise, and slight disappointment because of the loot, Serene surrendered. After taking her downstairs and locking her in the privates room, the ship owner thanked her and told her to go and rest while he steered the ship back to the Imperial City.

S'darrah wasn't too tired as she had slept so long earlier, but she rested for an hour. The ship finally reached the port, and she hurried off. Well, after being given 75 gold, which was the ransom amount for Selene. S'darrah thought that was a bit of a low amount as she had killed four men on her own, but she didn't say anything. After all, she had all their belongings to sell.

She ran back to the Waterfront shacks, to meet up with Armand so she could buy more lockpicks. She almost dropped her bag in shock when she saw that the paint horse from Bruma was standing between the shacks! She was convinced that he would head back to the stables he came from when she dismounted just outside the city island, but he had apparently walked all the way to the waterfront, and was now standing close to a bonfire, getting warm. She smiled to herself, that fitted her perfectly if she wanted to travel again. She didn't dare approach it now, though, as it was apparent to everyone that the horse was stolen.

Waiting until nightfall, she finally saw the torch light from Armand approaching. To her great pride, he had a special assignment for her since she had been able to fence so much gold. The Gray Fox had an issue with an over-eager guard officer who had demanded tax money from the poor residents of the city, and Armand wanted her to go find the tax money and the list of whom they had been taken from. She agreed to do it, and then asked to buy some lockpicks. She almost cried when he said he didn't have any. Now that she had a fence, Armand wasn't selling anything anymore. He did agree to take care of her bounty, though, for half the bounty sum.

Back to Bruma again! S'darrah almosr growled as she left Armand. Being a desert Khajiit, the Jerall Mountains was way too cold for her taste. Riding back and forth to the Nord village on a slow horse with wolves on her tail was not how she had envisioned her life as a thief. This time she would make sure she had enough lockpicks to last her until a better fence came along before she returned from Bruma.


	3. Epiphanes and Thievery

**Part Three - Epiphanes and Thievery**

S'darrah decided to make the most of the return journey to Bruma, so she ran over to the Market District to sell off all her loot from the gang of thieves. Then she waited until nightfall, and snuck into the same weapon store once the guard looked away and stole every weapon on the counter until she could carry no more.

She then hurried back to the Waterfront - the paint horse was still there - and started the long trek to Bruma. If nothing else, those long and lonely rides gave her time to think. She had been short-sighted and careless so far, S'darrah thought as the horse trotted northwards. It was her own fault that she was forced to do all this travelling. Her dream was to settle down in Imperial City, with a fence in the town and a tavern close to her house. That way, she could steal from the rich guys over at Elven District and Taloz Plaza whenever she needed more money, and she only needed to head outside the city gates when she wanted to go hunt for meat and pelts.

But she couldn't moan and sigh over not being there yet. She knew there was a fence in Imperial City, she had met him, but her rank was way too low for her to be able to use him yet. Her dream life was her goal, not something she could get as soon as she stepped off the boat. S'darrah bared her teeth at her own stupidity as Jerall Mountains approached. She would stay put in Bruma until she had fenced for 1000 gold pieces. Then she would do the job her Doyen had asked for her back in Imperial City. Only then could she even think of advancing in the guild.

She had met a highway bandit and some wolves on the way, but they had been taking care of by a patrolling guard - she was getting quite fond of these guards - and she could just dismount and loot the dead bodies before running after her horse (which has headed for Imperial City, not Bruma). As dawn came, she reached the stables of Bruma. Again two or three wolves were chasing her and again the guards and rangers came to her rescue. As they fought the wolwes, she silently tried to close the stable gate to get the horse back in place, but it seemed the horse had something else on it's mind. It hurried out of the pen and trotted towards Imperial City again! S'darrah sniggered as she walked towards the city gates.

She would stay in Bruma for days, sleeping and eating at daytime and stealing from the poor Bruma villagers at night. Some of the Brumans had more wealth than she had thought - again she had been careless. How could she ever think to be a good thief if she dismissed an entire city based on one house? She found some great weapons and armour at some places, some expensive books in others and at a mage's house, she found rare and expensive alchemy ingredients and spell scrolls. She sold it all, even the rare blade she got from the thief-gang over on the ship. All she kept for herself was a shortsword, that was all she needed. She also changed into a mage's robe, but sold all the armour she got.

She tried to access the richer stores on the higher level of the city, but the owners probably held watch on shifts or something, because there were always someone awake to chase her out, even in the middle of the night. So she quickly gave up so that she wouldn't draw too much attention to herself, and kept to the lower regions and the private houses. After a few days, she had fenced for 1100 gold pieces, and decided to head back to Imperial City. Hopefully for quite a while.

She stole another horse that actually was standing, rather conveniently for her, right outside the city gates, behind the guards, and headed south again. She got in a fight with two bandits, and was almost close to losing once, but she always ended up back on the horse with dead bandits stripped bare behind her on the trail.

S'darrah had made sure to buy loads of lockpicks from Ongar before heading south, and she didn't want to look for Armand until she had done the job he had asked of her. First, though, she needed to sell the bandit loot she got. Approaching the city island, she hopped off the horse and started swimming. This horse turned around and trotted back home to Bruma. S'darrah fought mudcrabs and found Nirnroot - collecting Nirnroots had become almost like a hobby of hers, especially after so many Brumans had the plant in their homes - before finally reaching the Market District.

Without shame, she returned to the weapon shop she had stolen so much from before to sell the bandits weapons, before going into Merchants Inn for some food and and a bed. The price was steep, but she indulged herself - the room was great! Big, with a luxury bed, books and even food layed out for her to eat. The good thing about all these travellings and sneaking the past few weeks was that she was getting stronger and faster than ever before.

Waking up in the morning, with her stomach (finally) full of meat and her purse full of gold, she was ready to find this Lex officer and get back the tax money.


	4. Promotion and Travelling

S'darrah didn't have too much trouble getting the tax sheets. She observed the watchtower long enough to see when there was a guard shift, and snuck up to the top of the tower when everyone was asleep. Officer Lex was sound asleep as she searched through his room and found the paper lying neatly on one of his drawers. She snatched it and got out of there without anyone noticing - she even had the time to steal some Imperial Guard armour to sell.

Armand was pleased with her work, and promoted her to Footpad. She was still far away from being able to use the Imperial City fence, though, and she started to realize that the road to get there would be longer than she first had thought. Armand had more work for her, though - seemed that her hard work in Bruma had paid off - and she headed for the town of Cheydinhal to find a bust of the recently deceased Countess. She decided to just run to Cheydinhal as it wasn't too far. Besides, she was probably quicker than some of the horses by now anyway.

Her optimism dropped a bit as she entered the new town, though. She met a begger and started to chat wit her. After some chit-chat and a few gold pieces had changed owners, the beggar told S'darrah where the bust could be found - by the dead countess' tomb, in the undersection of the church. And it seemed to be guarded and haunted. Great. So she had to fight undead now as well? This thieving-business was turning out to be more difficult and demanding than her naive dreams had ever made it out to be. Drinking beer at the tavern and stealing some swords here and there from the rich folks isn't everything there is to it, she thought to herself. At least not now.

She would have to get herself prepared for this.

Stealing the bust went surprisingly easy, S'darrah thought in hinsight as she was running back from Cheydinhal to Imperial City. There was only one guard in the church undercroft and she quickly learned his pattern of movement. As he walked past her, she ran silently down to the tomb, grabbed the bust, and ran out of the church without anyone noticing her. She had probably been paranoid - or maybe it was because she was doing this by day - because there was no ghosts down there. Black Waterside Stables had those quick and sought after black horses. With very little difficulty, S'darrah managed to steal one and she grinned as the black stallion almost flew over the road towards Imperial City.

S'darrah reached the waterfront with very little problem, and waited until midnight for Armand's now familiar torch moving towards the Garden of Dareloth. However, no Armand came, and she could see that the Waterfront was crawling with Imperial guards. Something was wrong. She had to try and find some other guild members to find out what had happened.

Before she had gotten far, Methredel came running up to her. S'darrah frowned a bit - running like that might look suspicous to all these guards that was clearly looking for something or someone. She didn't say anything, though, and Methredel quickly told her that there had never been a request for the bust. It had all been staged by Armand to expose a traitor to the guild. Now Armand was accused of stealing the bust, Methredel said, and had gone into hiding. S'darrah was slightly shocked by all of this. She wasn't feeling angry towards Armand for setting her up like this, she knew it was a matter of necessity and she would have done the same in his shoes. She cursed the traitor, though, however that was.

"So what now?" S'darrah asked. "What should I do, and how do I find Armand?"

"The traitor is Myvryna Arano, and she lives here in the Waterfront", Methredel replied. "Plant the bust on her and get Hieronymus Lex to search her house. If this works, Myvryna will be charged for the theft, and you can meet Armand here next midnight".

S'darrah nodded without saying anything else and snuck her way to the Myvryna's house. Luckily it was still nightime, and she could easily sneak herself into the house inbetween the running guards. The traitor was asleep in her bed, and S'darrah had no problem putting the bust in her cabinet.

Lex didn't really believe her, but he had to check it out all the same. Smugly S'darrah witnessed the Dumner woman get her scolding before getting arrested. Feeling rather good about herself, she stayed in the Waterfront until the next midnight. Armand apologized for using her like that, but S'darrah just waved his apology away. To her great pride and joy, he promoted her to Bandit and said that she now had a new fence - someone named Dar Jee in Bravil! Her ears drooped slightly, though, when Armand told her that she wouldn't get any more special jobs from him now as he only dealt with the lower rank guild members. S'krivva was her new Doyen.

They shaked hands before S'darrah left. It was almost dawn and she wanted to sell some of her loot. The not-stolen loot, she thought, grinning to herself. After that had been taken care of, she was feeling both hungry and tired. She again went to Merchants Inn and rented the same room as before. She thoroughly enjoyed the rich meal that had been put forth to her - two large pieces of meat, potatoes, corn and raddish. And a bottle of mead. Full, and very tired, she went to bed and slept until early the next morning.

S'darrah wasted no more time and ran to the Chestnut Handy Stables. It was difficult to steal a horse from the Imperial City stables. There were a lot of horses and two stable workers that followed her every move. After some sneaking and patient waiting, she finally managed to jump onto a bay horse. Then she heard someone yell - drat, it was a horse that belonged to a guild member! Again she had been kicked out of the guild. Drat it all to Rajhin - how was she to know?!

She dismounted angrily and ran back to the waterfront, waiting again until nightfall. Armand was slightly annoyed this time, and so was she, as she paid of both her penalty fee and half her bounty. Waste of good gold, she thought, and ran straight south to Bravil from there, not even bothering to trying to steal a horse again. It was dark and a storm was raging, making it impossible to see anything. S'darrah didn't care, though, the weather suited her fine. Her anger kept her swimming and running for hours, dispatching of any wolves she met quickly and angrily. She reached Bravil a few hours before dawn, and her fury had managed to settle down a bit. It was actually good that she had to wait a few hours before she could visit S'krivva, she thought, as that gave her even more time to calm down and present herself properly to her new Doyen.

Morning came and she knocked politely on S'krivva's door and entered. It was nice to talk with a civilized Khajiit again - most Khajiits she met was annoying bandits - and they got along instantly. S'krivva had a special job for her as well, and S'darrah gladly accepted. She was to travel to Leyawiin and help out the widow of a former fence there to retrieve a ring that an independent thief had stolen from her. That suited S'darrah fine as she was travelling to Leyawiin anyway, to pay a visit to her new fence.

She wasted no time in Bravil, as S'krivva had said, there seemed to be little to do here for an ambitious thief anyway. A bay horse was stationed convenientally just outside the city gates, and she quickly mounted it and headed south. She encountered a few wolves and a bandit, but she quickly disposed of them. To her great surprise, the bay horse waited for her until she returned with her loot. Grinning, she mounted the horse, patted it and continued. She could feel all her stress of late vanishing as she continued south. The climate and nature here was different. More open, more water, and warmer. It was closer to her homeland, Elsweyr. Not that Niben Bay in anyway was a desert landscape, it was much to moist for that, but for some reason S'darrah felt much more comfortable here than she did further north in Cyrodiil.

She sighed happily while her good bay horse headed loyally for Leyawiin.


	5. Leyawiin and the doubtful Khajiit

The travel to Leyawiin wasn't as easy as she had thought. Another storm was raging, and she could hardly see anything infront of the horse's head. She was ambushed by more wolves than she rememberd and also quite a few bandits. It always saddened her to see Khajiit bandits - why didn't they at least join the Dark Brotherhood? And the Thieves Guild? That way they could get more safety, more money and more loot. She sighed heavily as she killed her second Khajiit bandit on the same day. Not to mention that her lovely bay horse, which had even helped her killing of wolves, had been attacked by one and run off before she could help him. She tried searching, but couldn't find neither the horse nor the wolf and was forced to run on foot the rest of the way, hoping the horse had managed to survive.

Finally she reached Leyawiin. She wanted to sell her loot - both the stolen and the non-stolen one - before finding the woman she was helping out with her stolen ring. No matter how she searched, though, she couldn't find Dar Jee. Cursing, she went to The Dividing Line and sold her legal loot. The she went to Three Sister's Inn - which was driven by three Khjaiit sisters - and bought an expensive suite for 40 gold and went to sleep at nine o'clock in the evening, bushed.

She was up early next morning, feeling well rested and in better spirits than the evening before. Leyawiin as a melting pot of cultures. There were a lot of Khajiits and Argonians here. And a few hours later, when she had learned her way throught the town and spoken to quite a few people, she also learned that there was also a lot of racism here - both ways. She had found Ahdarhji and sighed inwardly while she listened to the bitter Khajiit's rants about the lowly Argonians. Of course, it probably didn't help that an Argonian had stolen her ring. But S'darrah put her foot down when Ahdarhji wanted her to kill the thief. She muttered something half-heartedly and non-committing when Ahdarhji then wanted her to at least let him suffer.

Talking to the beggars, she found out that the Argonian was prisoned, having tried to trick the Countess herself. S'darrah bribed the prison guard and talked to the thief - which turned out to be none other than Amusei, one of her contestants for joining the Thieves Guild in what seemed ages ago. He bitterly said that he was forced to become a freelance thief when the guild wouldn't let him join. She asked if he could tell her about the ring if she gave him a lockpick. Amusei was pleasently surprised by this, and told her that the ring actually belonged to the Leyawiin countess herself, which was why he was now in jail.

Feeling that this was beoming more complicated than she liked, she went to talk to the count and the countess themselves. After some pleasantries where she managed to befriend the count and the countess' handmaiden Hlidara, they told her that the countess only took her ring off when she went to bed, and that she kept it in her jewlery box at night. S'darrah smiled and changed the subject easily to not arouse suspicion, and she left the castle on good terms with them all.

Breaking into the castle? Stealing from the countess herself? S'darrah had to admit she didn't know if she was prepared for this. She had talked with people from Leyawiin before she even visited Imperial City for the first time, and she understood that the countess wasn't to be trifled with. There were dark rumours swirling about, and if only half of it was true... Not to mention that there had to be patrolling guards there, even at nighttime. Especially at nighttime.

Still, if she wanted that fence in Imperial City... Sighing again, she headed back into the town, filled with confusing thoughts.


	6. Boldness and Progression

First of all, she thought, she needed to find Dar Jee and sell off her loot. If she was going into the castle, there might be more loot there and she wanted to be able to carry it all in one go. After searching all day, she finally found him heading for his home late at night. He was a tall and dark Argonian, both in colours and clothes.

"Are you looking for a fence?", he asked. She nodded and showed him what she got. He bought it all, and she left with some more gold in her pocket. On her way, she came across Ahrdarji again, and told her that the ring was now in the countess' posession - up in the castle. Ahrdarhji snarled and replied that she had a good more use of it than what the countess had, and doubled the gold I would get for bringing it back. S'darrah nodded and headed for the castle before it was too late - or too early, as it might be.

Talking to that strutting Argonian had returned some of S'darrah's self-esteem. And she couldn't say that the doubled reward didn't help as well. It was almost three in the morning when she reached the castle basement and hurried her way through the secret passage. It was eerie and quiet, and she could only hope that no one wandered these passages at night - except for a Khajiit on some special business, she giggled to herself.

About midway through she found a rather large chamber with a bloody bench, some weapons and wrist irons hanging from the ceiling. The hairs on her back stood on end as she understood the dark rumors was true - the countess of Leyawiin wasn't just a racist, she had a hidden torture chamber, without a doubt reserved for Argonians. S'darrah stole the weapons she could see - a silver longsword, much better than the one she had herself, an iron one - and hurried along the way, eager to get out of that creepy chamber. She soon reached the private chambers of the count and the countess. Their private bodyguard patrolled the area, and she quickly ran for the bedroom at first opportunity. Knowing she didn't have much time before the guard returned, she quickly found the countess' jewlery box.

No ring! Drat it all to Baan Dar! She didn't have time to search anywhere else in the room, as she only had a few valuable seconds before the guard would return. As she turned to leave, she spotted the count's gold purse hanging conveniently by the bed. She quickly snapped it and ran silently back towards the passage.

S'darrah cursed and growled all her way back until she was out of the castle. Of course she had to try the one night the countess for some reason did _not_ put the ring in the jewlery box! She returned to Dar Jee with the little loot she had, and waited a few days in Leywawiin before trying again. When nightfall came, she returned to the secret passage. It didn't seem like anyone had been there since she left. When she came to the torture chamber, she hurried past it without a second glance. As she reached the private chamber again, she waited for the guard to leave the room before she for the second time made her silent and swift way to the jewlery box.

Yes, there it was! She quickly snatched it - along with a part of an Elder Scroll, it seemed - and ran as quickly as she could to safety. No one spotted her at all, and she now remembered why she a long time ago decided to become a thief. The thrill of the success! She had a childish urge to jump of pure joy, but walked swiflty and discretly through the castle, nodding at the guards she met before she was back in the town. She wasted no time returning the ring to Ahrdarji, and got 200 gold pieces for it.

S'darrah was too excited to sleep, and as it was still nighttime, she ran to the stables, stole a bay horse and headed immediately for Bruma, to deliver her successful report to S'krivva. Collecting Nirnroot and killing of highway bandits on her way, she was soon approaching the worn-down, little town. Of course, her horse had again disappeared as she fought a bandit, but she just shrugged and ran the rest of the way to Bruma.

S'krivva was very pleased with what S'darrah had to tell. She was promoted to a Prowler! And to make S'darrah's day even better, S'krivva had a new job for her - in the Imperial City! Apparantely, Hieronymus Lex had gone crazy and overflooded the waterfront with guards in his search for the Gray Fox. S'darrah was to return to the waterfront, find Methredehl and help out in restoring things back to normal.

S'darrah was so happy to be able to return to Imperial City that she headed for the city immediately, even though she hadn't slept for over 24 hours. She had noticed a bay horse standing just outside the city gates again, perhaps the one she stole from there earlier?, and found herself on the back of the horse and heading for Imperial City in no time.

She didn't even bother to follow the road this time, but headed in a straight line for the city. As she came close to the island, she left the horse and swam over to the waterfront. There were guards running around the place, asking her several times if she knew anything about the Gray Fox. Sometimes she wouldn't even have time to find an answer before they ran off again. She searched the abandoned shack and Methredehls own house without finding her, before realizing that she should of course speak to one of the beggars. She slept a few hours in the abandoned shack before continuing.

15 cold coins later, she learned that Methredehl was hidden in a house in Taloz Plaza. When she finally found her fellow guild member, she learned of her plan to restore things back to normal - she planned for five high-profile thefts at the same time, all over the city, forcing Lex to return his guards to ordinary guard duty. S'darrah was to steal a staff from the archmage in Arcane University. S'darrah agreed to do it, she just had to sit down and relax a bit, it had been some long and buys days.

She was happy, though. She was trusted, she had experienced more in these past few weeks than in the rest of her earlier life, and she was sure she was about to experience even more. She just needed a small break first, perhaps some food. When was the last time she had eaten? She couldn't remember.


	7. From Waterfront Restored to Pale Lady

S'darrah went to the Tiber Septim Hotel to sleep. It was very expensive - 40 gold - but she didn't care. It was the closest hotel and she was dead tired. She couldn't go up to the university before one in the evening anyway. She slept for six hours, and made sure to steal quite a bit of wine before she left. Enough wine to both sell and to keep for her own meals. Feeling slightly better, she headed for the Arcane University. Entering the main hall was easy, as it was open to public. She just had to get to the Archmage's sleeping quarters.

Teleporting from the main hall to the meeting room was easy, but there was this white-robed guy there, standing guard. No matter when she teleported, she even waited for 24 hours before trying again, but he was still there. So she made a bold move - she ran past him and went straight for the Archmage's room. As she entered, she saw the Archmage going to bed that exact second. She held her breath, and to her great relief, he hadn't seen her. She saw the staff and hurried over to get it. As she turned around, the white-robed guy was there. She didn't mind, though, as he hadn't seen her stealing and she was on her way out anyway.

S'darrah hurried over to Methredehl with the Ice Staff. Her fellow guild member was impressed with her swift return, and told her to spy on Hieronymus Lex so that the guild could know when he had been reassigned. S'darrah didn't wait, and still joyful from her earlier success, she headed right for the Waterfront - just in time to see a Daedra, of all things!, being sent as a messenger from the mages, telling Lex to get his guards back on their regular duty. As Lex left the Waterfront, he dropped the note the Daedra had given. S'darrah quickly snatched it and returned again to Methredehl.

Methredel was very happy with these news, and now told S'darrah to return the staff to a Mage's Guild member named Ontus Vanin. S'darrah was getting slightly impatient and asked if she would get her reward after that. Methredehl laughed, saying she apprechiated the Khajiit's greedy nature. Any reward was handled by S'krivva, though. So S'darrah went to pay a visit to Ontus Vanin. To her luck, he wasn't even home, so she had no trouble planting the staff in his personal chest.

After having gotten rid of the staff, she headed for Bravil. She ran on foot this time, starting to feel tired., To her surprise, she met very few fiends. Only a wolf just outside the Bravil front door. She took out her bow and arrow and shot it up close, for practice.

Her meeting with S'krivva went well, as always. She really liked her fellow Khjaiit thief. S'krivva promoted her to Cat Burglar and gave her a few hundred gold coins as a reward for taking care of the Waterfront problem. In addition, she was now allowed to use a new fence, right here in Bravil - Luciena Galena. Before going to sell what she had, she asked S'krivva if she had any new jobs for her. And she did. She wanted her to travel to Skingrad to search for a fellow thief named Thenarus. He was sent to retrieve a book to the Gray Fox himself, but no one had heard from him since. S'darrah said she would take a look at it.

First, though, she headed to The Lonely Suitor Lodge for a meal and a long, good sleep. She met with Galena, sold her loot, ate a large meal, payed for her room and slept until next morning.

Studying her map, S'darrah found out that the road to Skingrad wasn't as far as she had thought, as long as she stayed off the road and headed straight west. She stole a horse from the Bravil stables, and headed straight for Skingrad. Her trip was long, but quite uneventful, and she dismounted her horse and walked through the gates of Skingrad later that afternoon. She had also changed her dressing, from the worn mages robe to a beautiful, blue dress she had found one of her thieving nights.

She needed to know some more about this Theranis guy, though. S'darrah tipped off a begger she came across, and he told her that Theranis had been imprisoned, so she headed straight for the Skingrad castle. After spending almost an hour laughing and joking with the prison guard, she tried to bribe her way into the cells, but she was unsuccessful.

During her earlier conversation with the guard, though, she had learned that the steward was looking to hire someone for the job as a slop-drudge. She hurried over to the castle steward, a large Orc named Shum gro-Yarug. He hired her on the spot, giving her the assignment to feed the prisoners. Perfect! She returned to the prison guard, and this time he let her in, grudingly. There was only one prisoner down there, and he told her that Theranis and an Argonian prisoner had been dragged away by some "Pale Lady", although he didn't know where or what she wanted to do with them. As a thanks, she picked the lock to his cell door.

S'darrah was slightly confused. Where did they go? She looked around in the small prison, not sure what she was really looking for when she noticed some red spots on the floor. They lead into the wall. Her experience with the Leyawiin Castle told her that not all walls was what they seemed to be. She touched the surrounding stones, looking for a hidden switch of some kind. All the walls seemed solid, though. Only thing that was on the closest wall was a candle... S'darrah furrowed her brow, inspecting the candle. There was something strange about it. An experimental thug led to the blank wall moving and revealing a hidden door.

As she thought.

The blood trail continued down the passage. S'darrah sighed. Well, there was nothing to it. She moved swiftly through the passage, following the blood trail. She soon found herself in the wine cellar. Another thug at another candle revealed that one of the large beer barrels was a hidden door, and the blood-stained passage continued. S'darrah continued downwards, and was too preoccupied with the blood stains to pay attention to her surroundings, and before she knew it she met the Pale Lady herself.

The woman, who was indeed white as a ghost, attacked her at once, but she wasn't weearing any armour and S'darrah killed her with a few hits from her blade. Darn, that Pale Lady had inflicted the vampire disease on her! That explained it - drat it!

Her eyes went to the body laying on the floor close by - it was Theranis. S'darrah unceremoneously looted the body, but the book wasn't there. Only then did she notice the Argonian locked up in a cell. It was Amusei! She grinned as she approached him. He said he was glad to see her, and that he would give her the note Theranis had told him to give to the Thieves Guild if only she could get him out of there.

S'darrah refrained from making jokes on his expense, and together they snuck their way out of the castle. As they reached the gates, Amusei thanked her and gave her the note before he disappeared into the woods. S'darrah read the note, which stated that the book was hidden behind a bush next to a well in the city. She had just walked past that well, and knew where it was. She quickly retrieved the book, grinning happily to herself.

The night was approaching, and so S'darrah planned to return straight to Bravil. She would need some antidote soon, though, she thought as she wandered past the Colonian Trade. She did a doubletake and looked at the sign, snarling to herself. She easily picked her way into the closed store, and almost hummed to herself as she robbed the store for armour, weapons and beautiful dresses. This was what she liked, and she was already planning to return to Skingrad for a few days some day in the future as this seemed to be a rich town.

There were no antidotes or potions here, though, and so she snuck her way out again, stole a bay horse from the stables and headed for Bravil. For the first time, she felt fatigued and weary. Not tired of the guild, and neither did she feel the kind of tired that a good, long sleep could take care of. No, she was tired of this constant travelling. She wanted to settle down in Imperial City and build a life for herself. She didn't mind travelling, but not like this.

She sighed as another wolf was on her tail. To her great luck, she met a patrolling guard and he dismounted to help her. She turned her horse to take a look, and to her shock she noticed two or three goblins and one wolf attacking the guard at once. Slightly fascinated, she watched the fight for a while until she finally realised that if the guard died, they would all attack her. In addition, she wouldn't even be able to carry any more loot anyhow. So she silently turned her horse and headed for Bravil.

S'darrah gently put the horse back in the Bravil stable and closed the door, thinking to herself that she had only loaned that horse for a short while.

S'krivva was very happy that S'darrah had returned the book, which Gray Fox had been looking for for years, but was saddened to hear about Theranis' death. And she had another job for her right away - to help the Gray Fox eliminating Hieronymus Lex once and for all.

"No, not by murder", S'krivva said. "We are not the Dark Brotherhood".

And then she explained the elaborate plan - she was to steal the recommendation letter for a new protector for the Anvil Countess, find someone to forge it to recommend Lex warmly, sneak into the Imperial Office to seal it with the offical seal before returning it.

S'darrah agreed to do it, but as she didn't see this as a job that had to be done right away, she decided she needed to relax for a short while. Just a few days, although Bravil wasn't really the best place to relax in. Neither did she find a store that sold any potion that could remedy her condition.

She had to head for Anvil soon. It was quite far away from Bravil. She sighed, heading for the Lodge to sell her loot and again buy a bed.


End file.
